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Kleene Star

Tue, Jan. 1st, 2008, 10:26 am Reading List 2007 (7/288?)

Sadly, I forgot to log my books before leaving New York last week, so I’ve got very little idea of what I actually read in the last week of the year. (Noooo!) I’ve got my best estimate - a couple of Sue Grafton, a very dark book of Holocaust-related short stories, The Hobbit - but honestly it’s only a guess. I suppose I’ll update more accurately when I get back to the city.

If you want to see my reading for the year, go take a look at my reading list category - you can see all the archived posts.

Looking back, I’ve read a lot of terrific things (and more than a few mediocre ones!). Sadly, I didn’t break 300 books this year - and I probably won’t for a couple of years to come, if I’m writing more and reading less. This is sad to me mostly because it means I’ll encounter fewer books that change and shape me, either narratively or intellectually or emotionally.

I did do a lovely thing this year: I had a hobbit birthday (celebrated a bit early, because some people are leaving) and gave all my friends presents of books that mattered to me. Making the selection made me think about my life as a reader, and how much books have shaped me. I gave away copies of everything from my early feminist reading, to my favorite fiction, to the books that have led me down my career path. It was a lovely and profound thing to share with my friends, and best of all, I get to hear about their experiences reading the books that have shaped me!

For the record, the hardest thing was keeping it down to the same number of gifts as people who came - I actually ended up having to put together “flights” of books that I thought related to each other, because I just couldn’t keep it to one book per person. Oops!

And I’m off to read Lord of the Rings - what I’ve started every New Year with since I was eight. Happy New Year, folks! See you in 2008!